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Tow to Todd’s Shipyard, Galveston 13 December 1988 |
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On 13 December, at 6am, tugboats began tying up to the stern and pulled, but the ship did not budge. TEXAS was being held in her berth by 40 years of silt that had washed into the berth and pilled up around the hull. Additional tugboats were brought in, till there were six tugs with 25,000hp pulling on the lines and their propeller wash blowing away the silt from the hull. During the pulling, one tug blew an engine and one tow line broke with the sound a high powered hunting rifle firing. (I was there and saw-heard the line break). By 1:13pm, the horse power pulling on the tow lines and propeller wash finally pulled TEXAS from her berth and into the ship channel. By the time TEXAS was turned in the ship channel for the tow south, flooding alarms, had already gone off. Because the rudder was frozen 14.5 degrees to starboard, one extra tugboat was need on the port side at the stern to counteract the rudder. The 40 mile tow to Todd’s was to take 10 to 12 hours, at a maximum speed of 4 miles per hour. The tow speed though was increased and TEXAS arrived at Todd’s at 9:05pm. By the time TEXAS was being pushed into the Todd’s dry-dock, the clearance between the keel and the dry-dock blocks was 6 inches. |
